Nate Williams' signing with the Warriors opens doors. E.J. Liddell and Grant Nelson vie for the Nets' final roster spot.
The Brooklyn Nets know what they have at the NBA level, for the most part. However, their G-League affiliate Long Island Nets have a few decisions left to make.
All five of the Nets' first-round picks from the 2025 NBA Draft (Egor Dëmin, Nolan Traoré, Danny Wolf, Drake Powell, Ben Saraf) have shown flashes, but another prospect might get thrown into the mix with one roster spot still open on Brooklyn's roster.
In the aftermath of ex-Net Nate Williams' recent move to the Golden State Warriors on a two-way contract, several Long Island contributors will be looked at to fill that void, including the former No. 41 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft E.J. Liddell.
As a result of Williams' departure and Brooklyn's search for a 15th man, Nets Daily's Scott Mitchell and Connor Long discussed the different paths the franchise can follow when taking a look at call-up candidates from Long Island's roster.
"Williams signing opens up a G League standard spot for Long Island, but it doesn’t yet resolve Brooklyn’s open roster spot or the secondary moves if Brooklyn makes a call-up of their own from Long Island," Mitchell and Long wrote Monday night.
"For a long time this season, one had to figure that a two-way deal was going to be given to Grant Nelson or Nate Williams. Now, it seems like the Warriors have answered that question for Long Island."
"Now, should Brooklyn want to elevate E.J. Liddell to a standard deal, a two-way spot would be Nelson’s to lose. Not to mention, Brooklyn can also use a 10-day deal here and there for tryouts of sorts."
Though Long Island's 7-foot forward Grant Nelson is a fine player in his own right (12.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 60.8% field goal percentage), Liddell appears to be the obvious top pick to land a standard deal in the near future.
In his third G-League season and first with Long Island, Liddell has leveled up his scoring efficiency while remaining an impactful defensive weapon. The 6-foot-6 forward has contributed a career-high 18.7 points to go along with 7.6 rebounds, 0.9 steals and 1.3 blocked shots while knocking down 40.3% of his 4.5 attempts from three-point range in 16 games.
Liddell's overall versatility on both ends of the floor has been a key development for Long Island, and his three-and-D potential could ultimately lead to Brooklyn's offering of a standard contract.
Unfortunately, Nelson's days with the franchise might be numbered as a result. This is not a desired outcome, as he's also become one of the focal points of Long Island's offense.
Nelson's proven to be an uber-efficient paint scorer with fantastic footwork, patience and court awareness, but Liddell's jack-of-all-trades skill-set and three-point shooting could propel him back to the NBA level.
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